


The Emperor's Coven

by Xenamorph



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Autistic Luz Noceda, Bisexual Luz Noceda, Depression, F/F, Gen, Lesbian Amity Blight, Memory Alteration, Mind Manipulation, Panic Attacks, Post-Episode: s01e18 Agony of a Witch, Spoilers for Episode: s01e18 Agony of a Witch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26073334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xenamorph/pseuds/Xenamorph
Summary: Takes place directly after Edalyn is taken in her monster form to the Emperor's Castle. Emperor Belos has so many wonderful plans for the sisters.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne & Lilith Clawthorne
Comments: 12
Kudos: 89





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is written before the season finale, and I'm just spitballing here.   
> Inspired by this tumblr post:
> 
> https://brookreader.tumblr.com/post/627180238652194816/okay-so-what-if-next-episode-we-see-eda-with-the

There are many sources of magic. The runes that Luz somehow mastered, the plants that Willow uses, the illusions that Gus has and the circle magic that everyone uses (except for Luz but she was always a special case). And there are many spells that can be used, but only the rarest try using mind magic. 

It was always hard to work with someone's mind, to twist it around and mold it to properly suit the caster's needs without turning the person's mind into mush and making them more like an abomination rather than a person with thoughts. And Emperor Belos was a unique and rare individual, and that meant that the second that Eda had been properly captured (trussed up and corrupted into her owl form), he was there to take advantage of it.

It may not have been the smartest move, reducing the truly most powerful witch on the Isle to a mindless beast, but it got the job done. And Lilith (oh, poor impressionable, easy Lilith) was more than happy to take down her own sister. Rather sad, but it's okay. Edalyn is with her real family now, instead of that horrid house and that oddly powerful human. And the healing can begin. The healing of the body comes last, of course, the mind takes precedent.

"Get off me you sonofabitch I'll eat you-" Edalyn squawked as she squirmed in the magical bounds that her sister was so kindly keeping her in. There were no children around so Edalyn seemed to have regained that foul mouth of hers as she snapped her large teeth. Her large wings fluttered uselessly as they beat against her back and the bounds keeping her tied.

"Sister, why do you keep fighting! He's helping you, he's already helped your mind!" Lilith yelled, brows furrowing as she tried to focus her magic, "Why are you always so difficult when you're being helped!" There was a surge of magic over Edalyn's cursed body as the powerful witch writhed in her binds.

"Helping me from the position you put me in, Lily!" She roared out, eyes flickering fully black before running back to normally. Her head twitched slightly and she took a hard inhale as she tried to shake some sense back into her.

Emperor Belos never truly speaks himself, instead he speaks through his disciples. But today is not one that exactly needs a voice to it as he moved to cup her face in his gloved hands (no need for using skin to skin, his magic was more powerful than anything could come in between of) and sent a surge of his magic into her head. Her eyes went pure white as the magic poured into her, erasing all traces of her sisters imperfect curse (truly what was Lilith thinking when she crafted it?) and turning her forcibly back into what she once was.

The binding spell had to account for the change, and so there was a brief moment when Eda lay completely unbound. But thankfully (and as expected) the woman was far too out of it to even give up a fight, and Lilith soon rebound her in those chains.

"It has been far too long, Edalyn Clawthorne, but you've finally made your way back-" Emperor Belos' speech (that he had prepared previously because he knew that Lilith would overcome her frail and cursed sister) was interrupted as Edalyn took advantage of having a witch's mouth to spit right on his mask.

"Can't make my way back if I was never here in the first place," Her finger swirled into a power circle, but Lilith seemed have been smarter than they both expected. The binding spell she had wrapped around her sister seemed to be extremely antimagic, as it tightened down and forced the circle to dissolve down. "Ah- shit Lily-"

"I'm trying to _help you, Edalyn_." Lily's voice was shaky as her hands shook with the effort to keep the bindings up (her sister was strong, far stronger than Lilith could normally handle, but the construction rune slapped onto the back of her neck was enough to help her. "Just let him help you, let him finish taking the curse away."

But what Lilith didn't know (and what Edalyn couldn't communicate) was that the cure was already fully removed. But what Lilith doesn't know won't hurt her, and Emperor Belos knows that it'll all turn out okay. "Listen to your sister, Edalyn. We are just trying to help." His voice echoed slightly against the metal of his mask and he raised his hands, composing multiple circles as he hummed out. 

Mind magic was so very hard, but Belos was practiced and he knew a lot about how the mind worked. Edalyn wanted family, that's why she adopted that powerful human (who Emperor Belos had other plans for) and that small weakling of a demon and that odd little house that spoke (demon houses were always so frustrating). But Edalyn was misled and bitter with her curse, but there's no need for that here. He severs the connection between her feelings and Luz, and Edalyn slumped over a little. Seems like that human was a large part of her fighting spirit. "There we are, don't worry Edalyn, you're getting what you've always wanted: acceptance to the Emperor's Coven."

Edalyn's brow creased, wriggling around in the bounds that her sister had wrapped around her, "What?" Her voice was strained and soft as she strained her arms against the wrappings.

A small flick of his hand and the binding spell dissipated (it was no longer needed after all, Edalyn was more powerful without being cursed, but she was much too disorientated to use any actual magic), "Your application to the Emperor's coven has been accepted! Welcome to the coven, Witch Clawthorne." Belos extended his hand for Edalyn to grab onto.

With the lifting of the curse, Edalyn looked different (but a good different, no longer the unhinged owl lady that she was). Her hair had returned back to it's bright orange, and her skin was the same white that her sisters was, no longer the chalk white of the curse. The feathers had long left, her wrinkles had faded until she even looked younger than Lilith. "What's- what's going on?" Sadly her voice hadn't changed, still a little crackly and unpleasant to the ears (but the perfection takes time and it'll get to the same roll of Lilith's eventually).

"Oh, Eda, we're in the Emperor's coven!" Lilith's voice was happier than Belos would've expected, but he supposed that was just the magic of getting what you always wanted no matter the cost. "We were accepted and now we can work together for the betterment of the Isle!" She rushed forward to her sister's side, hands moving up to cup her cheeks as he couldn't stop herself from smiling, "You're going to get your symbol today, just like I did all those years ago."

Edalyn ran her hand through her hair, tugging at it slightly as she shifted to stand (shaking and unsteady, but Belos couldn't entirely fault her for that) and leaned on her sister, "Oh- wow yeah that's an honor." She slowly adjusted herself, holding herself more and more like her sister. All proper and straight up, adjusting her robe as she squared her shoulders and looked around. Eyebrows just barely creasing as she looked around the room, "Where's the branding glove?"

Emperor Belos snapped his gloved fingers, ushering in another one of his coven members (faceless and masked and hooded, nothing underneath but no one needed to know that) with the glove. Edalyn offered her wrist with no fight (as it should be, all powerful witches should offer up their wrists with no qualms for him). The branding glove came down on her wrist, and the younger Clawthorne gasped as she fell down to kneeling. The effect of the glove was immediate, the surge of previously unrealized wild magic flowing into the glove and into _him_. Yes, those that join his coven (though it was technically only three people including him now, but the illusion was needed) could use all the types of magic. But all magic needed to be controlled, to be guided, and it would all go through him first. Taming the wild magic and allowing him to feed off of the whispers of what is considered proper magic usage. 

Her staff was broken, the Palisman escaped (disappointing, Belos was so excited to feed off of it, but there is a time for all things after all), so Edalyn needed a replacement. And she was presented with one, all white wood and metal with an owl carving at the top (not exactly a Palisman, but it gave the appearance of one). Edalyn's eyes were slightly hazed over from the effect of the magic, but that could be understood. She supported her weight on the staff, slowly getting herself together as her shoulders squared and she raised up properly. "Thank you for this honor, Emperor Belos." 

"Think nothing of it, it is my pleasure to have to two most powerful witches on the Boiling Isles in my wonderful Coven. I'm sure you'll just add to the group and make the empire stronger for your powers." The words were low and rumbled out, one of the few times that Eda would've remembered hearing his voice, "I'm glad you've finally joined a coven, Edalyn."

There was a little note of absolute preening in Edalyn's posture as she nodded her head, "Of course, I'm sorry for all the trouble my reluctance has cost you and the empire, I should've come to you soon. And sister-" She turned her head to look at Lilith- "I'm sorry for being so stubborn, and all the hurt that I've caused us." 

Mind magic was difficult, it tended to need to have things pruned from the minds in order to make the susceptibility work properly. So the parental feelings for Luz Noceda were taken out (Edalyn couldn't still have the drive to find her again if he wanted to keep her in the nest), the memories of Lilith being the one to curse her were taken out (that would cause infighting, and that would make everyone so much sadder than they had to be), everything was needed to be fixed and this was fixing it. Some things needed to be removed, and so they were.

"Oh- Eda-" Lilith's voice was almost pathetically emotional, and she moved to cup Edalyn's cheeks with her hand- "It's okay, it's all okay. We can make up for lost time right now, okay? We can play with our magic, together like we used to!" She was smiling for once, eyes bright with unshorn tears as she embraced her sister. It could've been an emotional scene, if Emperor Belos didn't have a plan to throw into action.

He cleared he through, though it wasn't completely necessary (he just needed to get their attention and ensure that they were going to listen to what he had to say), "You may have the next few days to recuperate from your curse removal, and mend your bond. But in three days time, I will need both of you on the top of your game. The time has come for my plan to come to fruition, and I need the power of the two of you to achieve it."

Edalyn looked up from her sister, face stolid and unyielding (good, he needs the avian witches at their apex for his plan to properly work), "And we will be, I promise that I will take this mission as seriously as the grave." The differences in the owl witch were great, but they were all for the best. All of the snark (extremely unprofessional), mischief (too dangerous to really account for) and ego (she must realize that she is apart of something larger than herself) had been wiped away. Replaced with cruel professionally, and the same sort of powerful magic that her sister had (but more so, and now that magic was finally reaching towards a higher purpose).

Behind his mask, the Emperor's lips twisted into a smile, "I'm sure that you will, Witch Edalyn, and I'm positive that you and your sister will make me very proud." There was a gust of wind, something to distract was enough for him to disappear with, and he left the two sisters alone (for now).

Good things come to those who wait, and according to Belos he was entirely in the right for this. He waited, and watched, and finally he has the two most powerful witches on the Boiling Isles loyal to him. All he needs to do is put his plan into action.


	2. Chapter 2

Luz Noceda had a lot of things figured out, she knew the glyphs of most of the main elements, and she knew that she was bisexual, and she knew that she was alone.

That was unfair, she wasn't really alone, King was there and so was Hooty (Hooty was always there, no matter how much everyone wished he wasn't). But Eda wasn't there, there wasn't any loud laughter coming from the kitchen, no 30 & Flirty mug in the sink. There was just her in the house with the cape that Eda had never gotten the chance to give her, and a whole lot of regret. Regret that she had popped the bubble in the first place, maybe if she hadn't done that, Eda wouldn't have used up the last of her magic. Maybe if she had just stayed in that bubble, Eda would've gotten the chance to give her the cape herself instead of having to find it herself next to the cake that King had made for her.

It had been heartwarming, to find out that her adoptive mother (not that her actual mother wasn't enough, she was! But Eda was her Boiling Isles mom, just like Camilla was her mom on Earth! People can have two moms) and...King was King (but she loved King! He was like a mix between a really weird dog and a younger brother!), but they still loved her. They had welcomed her into the arms in their home (their very weird home), and they had loved her. And now Eda was kidnapped, a mindless beast for the Emperor to take advantage of.

Luz glared down at the unfinished fire glyph on the paper in front of her, the final dot in the middle wasn't there yet (which was the only thing that was stopping it from consuming the fire). It had been unfinished for the past five minutes. Was it five minutes? Time just slipped away and the curtains were shuttered closed so it's not like she could tell by the light.

"Uh, Luz?" King's voice came from the doorway and Luz jumped slightly, instinctively tapping on the glyph and making the fire burst to light and send towards the door. "Ah!" He yelped out as he hit the deck, just barely dodging the fireball that slammed into the wall behind him. "Jeez, Luz, you've been in this room for the past five hours, I was wondering if you wanted to eat dinner."

"Oh." The word came out small as she realized how much time had really passed. Five hours, that was way too long for her to go without eating, so she pushed herself up to stand. Her legs wobbled underneath her and she gasped as she almost fell back to the ground, "Shoot- I'm- I'm fine, King. I'll be down in a second." She chewed on her lower lip, pushing herself back up to stand. "Just, heat something up for me okay? I know Eda usually- usually cooks, but my mami's taught me a few recipes that I can whip up." 

Even though King didn't have eyebrows, or facial features, Luz still got the distinct feeling that King was frowning at her, "No, I have it. I'm the King of Demons you don't have to do anything, I can manage some food!" Even the brag of being King of Demons fell short, but Luz couldn't find it in herself to comment. If he didn't comment about how long that she had been staring at the same glyph for hours, then she's not going to point out that his bragging was less real than before.

Luz dug her squared off nails into her palm as she stood up, not wanting to fall right back down into the trap of disassociation, and made her stumbling way downstairs. Her legs were almost numb at this point, but five hours sitting on her ankles definitely was going to have some affects on her ability to walk downstairs. But she got down them without falling on her face, and she was surprised when she got to the kitchen,

"Luz!" Three voices chimed out, all familiar and worried, and suddenly Luz found herself in the middle of a tight group hug. Amity's face was pressed into her neck, the boot on her foot clumsily stuck out and Luz could feel the slight heat of her abomination-casting fingers on her back. There was a little tremble to her shoulders, felt rather than saw, and Luz's ears picked up on soft little mutterings that were completely muffled by how close she was pressing to her.

Willow's face was pressed into her arm, her strong arms wrapping around her left arm as she pressed herself as close as she could. There was the distinct smell of earth to her (natural from how many times that she had gotten dirt in her hair while using plant magic) and her nails were just slightly digging into Luz's arms like if she let go she was going to disappear. Her glasses were smushed up against Luz's arm, and she could hear that Willow was at least most of the way to sobbing.

Gus was pressed against her back, his face pressed into her back as his arms wrapped around her. Gus's hands were cold, like mist, from all of his illusions and Luz couldn't stop thinking about how she could maybe (maybe) have avoided it all if she hadn't bothered sneaking away. She thought she was going to help, that she was somehow going to get the magical hat and cure Eda's curse. The curse that her sister put on her and the curse that had overtaken her and-

"Ow!" She yelped in pain as she felt a pinch on the back of her neck.

"Amity!" Willow and Gus cried out, hugging Luz tighter (and in Willow's case she was trapping her left arm against her side.

"She was zoning out, didn't you hear what King said?" Amity did sound regretful, but not enough to actually apologize as she took Luz by her remaining hand and almost dragged her to the couch and pushed her down. The hug sort of fell apart at that point, but eventually they all fell back into each other.

Luz could feel herself tearing up, both from the fact that the last time they had all been together _Eda_ had also been there, and from the fact that her friends had come back for her. It was too much, too many things all compiled in on itself (lying to her mother, Eda falling to her curse, being alone, and oh god- oh god Eda has the key). She gasped out, ragged and surprised as it hit her, nails digging into Amity's and Willow's arms as her eyes went wide. She couldn't even get it out, just shuddering it out in gasps.

"Luz? Luz what's going on?" Amity was concerned, turning towards her as well as she could with Luz's white knuckled grip on her arm. Eyebrows scrunched together and eyes slightly narrowed in concern as she moved to try to press fingers to her neck to check her pulse.

And Luz knew that getting home wasn't the biggest issue. That there were things that were so much bigger than one human getting home going on right now, that Eda was in danger and the Emperor had some horrible plan in the works but all- all that she could think about was never seeing her mom again. Never being able to talk to her in Spanish (no one on the Boiling Isles spoke Spanish and no one knew all the little word plays that she was doing), never being able to hug her when she comes home from her job, or wake up early just to spend the entire day with her mom. And all she could get out was: "Eda has the key."

You could hear a pin drop in the room, and even though Luz wasn't looking at them (she was staring straight ahead at the other wall with very little focusing on it), she knew that her friends were all staring at each other. And maybe there was a good part, being able to stay in this world of magic and learn how to master more and more glyph. Stay with her new friends and new family and Amity (Amity deserved her own category). But it didn't trump everything, it didn't trump how much she missed her mom and how much she just wanted to lay in her own bed and chase after the neighborhood cats that were always strange. Even if she wasn't entirely happy there, still not entirely accepted and still that weird kid in school, it was her home. 

"Don't worry, Luz, we'll get Eda back, and we'll get the key back too." Luz admired Amity for a lot of things, but right now she admired how sure of herself she could be. Just hearing her talk like that, like it was already predetermined and going to happen, made her believe it. It was a lot easier to believe things coming from Amity. "And you'll be able to go back home when you have to, and everything is going to be fine." Amity sounded a bit like she was trying to convince herself of that, but Luz appreciated the gesture. 

"Amity's right, Luz, we're all behind you. You don't have to go at it alone," Gus grinned, though the smile was a little too fragile for Luz to really believe him. "We're all pretty good casters, we can do it!"

"Can we really take on the Emperor's Coven? Or the Emperor, or anyone else that's going to be guarding Eda?" Luz wasn't used to feeling pessimistic, she had made it through fourteen years of life being optimistic and never letting anything get her down. But this was different, this was so much larger than her and she felt sick. Like she was about to throw up or faint or throw up and then faint or maybe faint and then throw up and she's going to choke to death on her own vomit and then who's going to save Eda-

"Luz!" Willow said, almost a little panicked and Luz realized that she had started to fall forward, "It's going to be okay, we can fight! We're good fighters! We can sneak in, and we can avoid fighting as long as we can and when it comes down to it, we work together." Her shoulders squared off and Luz was reminded of the girl that she had a crush on in third grade, all chubby cheeked and hard eyed and surprisingly soft hugs. Luz was so glad that she knew them both, even though Willow was a lot different from that girl (Jane, that was her name).

"That's right, we can put all of our magic together, like you and Amity did during Grom!" Gus grinned, wide and excited and oh god he wasn't there for Eda turning into a beast, none of them had seen just how feral that she had become. "I'm sure that Abominations and plants would be a pretty killer combination, especially if both you and Willow were working the plant side, and I could use my illusions to distract people!"

The conversation continued there, around her as Luz stayed focusing on herself. Shouted out recommendations for combined spells but it was all just noise to her. All just annoyance and background noise as she tried to ground herself. It wasn't the first time that she's done this, that she's been so thoroughly out of her body that she's had to take in all five senses a few times before she could even process the noise going on around her.

5 things she could see: Gus's illusion circles that he was keeping going, Willow's plants coming out of the ground and knocking over things, Amity trying to stop the plants from knocking things over, King puttering around in the kitchen as he tried to figure out how exactly to cook, and Owlbert perching on the railing of the stairs.

4 things that she could feel: the lump of the couch underneath her, the warmth from Amity's hand still lazily curled around her arm, the hardwood of the living room against her feet, and the shift of her clothes against her skin.

3 things that she could hear: King's grumbling from the kitchen, Amity's laughter right in her ear as she tried to control the vines, and the gloop of the abomination trying to control the vines.

2 things that she could smell: the earth of plant magic and the smell of King's cooking (it didn't smell horrible but it was nothing like her mother's, what changed? Why does Luz feel so homesick now?)

1 thing that she could taste: a little bit of blood in her mouth from the fight, it was old but coppery against her tongue.

And finally, Luz was back in her body and she kicked her foot to keep the plant from yanking her into the fight. Drumming a beat on her thigh, Luz moved (slowly, like she was moving through thick syrup) to grab a piece of paper and a pen. Scrawling down an ice rune, she sent a spire running through the plant and pinning it for long enough for Willow to force it to disappear. "There we go," Her voice was small, even to her own ears, but it was there. And isn't that what mattered?

She stood, a little shaky but solid on her feet as she adjusted the cape around her shoulders, and she promised herself something. She promised that she would make it to thank Eda for the cape _herself_ , she would walk right up to Eda and wrap her arms around her and thank her for the gift. No wishes for her to know, Luz would find her, get her back, and thank her for everything that she had done.

"We should leave tomorrow, try to see if we can heal Amity's foot because that would definitely slow us down and it would hurt Amity more if she stumbles around with that boot on her foot."

"Well, you could always carry her, Luz," Willow said, smiling slightly at Amity like it was an inside joke, and Amity's face went bright red.

"Of course I could, but that would mean that my glyphs would be out of our abilities, I'd have to use two hands to carry her no matter which way I do it," Luz reasoned, pacing back and forth as she started to reason out what she was thinking of. Her hands started to flap, trying to steady her racing mind as she paced. A thing that she thought she had grown out of, but it was making a fast return as she found herself unable to focus otherwise. 

Luz muttered to herself, bouncing slightly on her heels with every little pace, before finally all the pieces started slotting together and she stopped. Grinning wide enough to hurt, Luz snapped her fingers, "I got it!"

**Author's Note:**

> This is written as a one-shot but if it gets attention and a desire, I can be convinced to write a sequel!


End file.
